Tag: Agios Ioannis
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Best of Mykonos ♥ – Greece 2016 is a short but sweet personal travel film that spotlights some of the gorgeous sights and scenery a couple and their young son enjoyed during a visit to Mykonos this spring

Age appropriate: Here’s a newly published video I’m sharing on the blog primarily for any parents out there who might be wondering: Should we take our kids to Mykonos?

Concerned by its well-established reputation as a “party island,” readers regularly ask me if Mykonos is suitable for families with toddlers, young kids and teens. These parents say they would love to visit the island, but they’re worried about exposing their kids to the drunken debauchery, street brawls and public sex they’ve heard about or seen on television shows like the What Happens in Kavos series on Britain’s Channel 4 several years ago.

Although Mykonos is justifiably famous for its adult-oriented attractions of restaurants, shopping and nightlife, the island does have attractions and activities suitable for people of all ages — and its popular party scene can easily be avoided.

True, Mykonos has a few beaches where celebrations can sometimes turn wild, crazy and salacious — Paradise, Super Paradise, Paraga and Psarou among them — but the parties usually don’t start until 4 p.m. That means mornings and early afternoons are ideal for families to enjoy the sun, sand, sea and sensational scenery at each of these picturesque beaches. Moreover, there’s plenty of “non-party” beaches that are perfect to take kids, including Platis Gialos, Ornos, Agios Stefanos, Kalo Livadi, Kalafatis, Agia Anna/Kalafatis and Agios Ioannis, some of which offer a variety of water sports activities in which children can participate.

And unless they take the kids on a midnight (or later) stroll through the labyrinthine streets of Mykonos Town, parents probably won’t even notice the night-time party scene at the dozens of bars and clubs scattered throughout the town center. (Families can avoid peak party season altogether — and peak crowds and prices — by travelling to Mykonos in late April, May, the first half of June or during September and early October.)

Getting back to the video, you’ll join the Pfeifer family — Vanessa and Ben, and their young boy, Vincent — as they experience picture postcard-perfect places like the Little Venice seafront and the charming lanes of Mykonos Town, as well as the impressive coastal scenery and stunning turquoise sea at Agios Ioannis (better known to many people around the world as “The Shirley Valentine beach”).

Ben is a professional photographer with Fotostudio Lichtecht in Annaberg-Buchholz, Germany, and his skills are on full display in the video as he captures beautiful scenes and images from around the island and at their accommodations, the luxurious Mykonos Grand Hotel at Agios Ioannis– one of the island’s top resorts.

The video is only three and a half minutes long, so it offers a rather quick glimpse of Mykonos. But besides highlighting some of its most popular attractions, I think it shows parents that Mykonos is a place their kids will be able to enjoy, too.

Overlooking the Mykonos Town harbourfront from one of my favourite vantage points on a hill behind the Remezzo area of town

Boom town: Many of the tourists who visited Mykonos last summer must have been wondering why they didn’t see obvious signs of the economic crisis that has ravaged the country for more than five years.

Seemingly unscathed by the financial problems that have plagued the rest of Greece, Mykonos was absolutely thriving in 2015, with more than 100 new travel-related businesses opening up on the island last summer alone. The unprecedented renovation and building boom saw the arrival of new hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, galleries and personal services, many of which were aimed at the island’s rapidly growing luxury travel market.

It would be hard to top 2015’s astounding array of brand-new businesses again this year, but recent announcements about more upcoming new openings suggest the resilient Mykonos economy is poised for even further prosperity and growth.

So far there have been announcements on social media to herald the imminent debut of several new restaurants, retail shops, beach clubs, hotels, bars and nightlife venues, while rumours abound that many more are in the works.

Please click on the link below to read about the new businesses that have opened or been announced so far. I will update this post regularly as I receive more information about the newcomers.

Located at Tourlos, just a short walk from the New Port, Cayenne is among dozens of brand-new businesses on Mykonos this year.

[Updated October 30 2015]

“Crisis? What crisis?” That’s a question many regular visitors to Mykonos will probably ask when they see the more than 100 new and completely-renovated businesses that have opened on the island this year.

While Greece shudders through its sixth straight year of devastating economic turbulence, Mykonos appears to be in a different world altogether, virtually unscathed from the recession that has ravaged the rest of the country.

Last year, the island enjoyed a record year for tourism — receiving more than 2 million visitors — and some longtime local residents told me they could not recall ever seeing the island as crowded and busy as it was during July and August. Hotels were filled to capacity, flotillas of luxury yachts were common sights at many beaches, and champagne flowed by the caseload at bars and restaurants across the island. As I reported in a July 16 2014 post, hotel rates reached higher levels, too, with the international online travel firm Trivago noting that prices had soared as much as 61% over the previous year.

International brands flocking to Mykonos

In anticipation that even more tourists with thick wallets will arrive in 2015, local and international companies have been pouring millions of Euros into the construction of new hotels, shops, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as the renovation or upgrading of existing properties. Indeed, since late last autumn, Mykonos has been experiencing an unprecedented building boom as small armies of contractors swarmed around the island in a rush to finish dozens of projects. Global business brands flocked to the island in droves, scooping up any available real estate for their new Mykonos outlets.

With many of the new enterprises aimed at affluent travellers, Mykonos mayor Konstantinos Koukas has told local media he’s confident that the island is now well-poised to compete for a bigger share of the the world’s luxury travel market, and will successfully lure big spenders who usually flock to other Mediterranean hotspots like St Tropez, Monaco and Ibiza.

To see what’s new on Mykonos this year, please click on the convenient quick links below:

Click here for page 2 to read about new and newly-renovated restaurants in Mykonos Town, Tourlos, and the Ano Mera area.

Click here for page 3, which describes new and renovated beach restaurants, as well as the island’s two big new beach clubs, Monarch and Scorpios.

Click here for page 4, which highlights new and renovated nightlife venues in Mykonos Town, including bars, nightclubs, and shisha lounges; and

Click here for page 5, which introduces you to the island’s new spas, retail shopping establishments, and hotels.

More than two dozen new restaurants opened on Mykonos for 2015, and five of them can be found under one roof at the Food Mall Mykonos on the highway between Mykonos Town and Ano Mera.

Widely recognized as the hippest new beach club on Mykonos for 2015, the Scorpios Beach Restaurant and Bar became one of the most popular places on the island within weeks of its opening in an “idyllic haven” on a peninsula between Paraga and Platis Gialos.

Another new beach club and restaurant is Monarch at Kalo Livadi, which boasts cuisine designed by a Michelin-starred chef, comfy beachfront lounge chairs, and occasional special events and big parties.

One of the most eagerly awaited new arrivals on Mykonos was Ling Ling, a Hakkasan-branded Cantonese fine dining restaurant and uber-chic nightspot. It opened in July in the premises that had been occupied for decades by the famous Philippi Garden Restaurant, which closed a few years ago after its owner died.

June 27 saw the launch of yet another new nightclub when Bonbonniere Mykonos threw its opening party in the ODE Mykonos club in the Tria Pigadia area of Mykonos Town. It’s a summer “pop up” version of the world-famous Bonbonniere club in London whose owner, Joe Fournier (wearing the white polo shirt) is pictured after signing a contract to bring Bonbonniere to the ODE space for the season.

Mykonos residents and visitors weren’t just buzzing about new business openings this spring — people were also chatting about the abrupt closure of the enormously popular Caprice Bar (pictured above) and its surprise reopening a few weeks later as Caprice, a restaurant-bar located just a few doors down from its old place at Little Venice.

Mykonos No.5 Villas is one of the island’s newest hotels, offering a selection of seaview apartment residences, lofts and maisonettes in the Kanalia district 3.5 kilometers from Mykonos Town.

The scenic Mykonos Town harbourfront is part of the panoramic view that guests can enjoy with their meals at Roca Cookery

[Updated on September 18 2015]

Where to eat: Each year I receive scores of requests to offer restaurant recommendations for people planning to visit Mykonos. Since the 2015 travel season is officially underway with Holy Week celebrations for the Greek Orthodox Easter, it’s time for me to start rolling out my annual round-up of places to eat on Mykonos.

This is an informal “work in progress” list of Mykonos restaurants, cafés and tavernas that are either already open for business, or that have announced they will be opening within the next several weeks.

I will update this post regularly as I learn about more places that have opened their doors for the summer, so keep checking back for the latest restaurant additions. As of the latest update, this list includes more than 180 dining establishments.

Keep in mind that this is only a rough guide, and is by no means intended to be a comprehensive catalog of the myriad dining options available on Mykonos. There are more than 400 places to eat on the island so, as a hobby blogger, I couldn’t possibly keep track of them all! But as you’ll quickly see from the listings, you never need to worry about going hungry on Mykonos — the island boasts a vast selection of restaurants ready to satisfy even the fussiest tastes and appetites.

I have arranged the restaurant descriptions and photos according to the establishments’ specific locations on Mykonos; for example, in/near Mykonos Town, at Ano Mera, at a beach or elsewhere on the island. For fast access to restaurant information, here are some quick links:

The gorgeous seaview swimming pool at De.light Boutique Hotel looks oh-so-inviting in this photo from the hotel website. De.light is among numerous Mykonos resorts currently offering early booking deals for summer travel.

Reserve now: If you plan to visit Mykonos this summer, consider booking your accommodations as soon as possible to get a good deal on the price — and ensure you get to stay at the hotel of your choice.

On New Year’s Eve, a travel tip entitled 5 things smart travelers should do in January caught my eye on the Condé Nast Traveler magazine website. Item #5 recommended reserving summer hotel rooms on Mykonos and Santorini now to take advantage of early-booking bargains.

The article quoted Leftheris Papageorgiou of St Paul Minnesota-based Hellenic Adventures as saying this is the time of year many hotels on the two hugely popular Cycladic islands offer special promotions. “Not only will you get your top pick of hotels, but you’ll get them at a reduced rate,” he said.

Mykonos popular on travel website searches

But there’s another good reason to reserve soon — rooms at your preferred hotel could sell out quickly. Mykonos recorded one of its best-ever years for tourism in 2014, and the island’s popularity could soar even higher this summer.

In fact, Mykonos ranked in the world’s top 5 travel destinations for 2015 in data analyzed by Skyscanner, one of the major travel search engines. Additionally, Skyscanner found that Mykonos was the #2 most-searched destination for Australians, and #3 for travellers in the United Kingdom. (People around the globe conduct more than 30 million searches per month on the travel site. Working with trend forecasting firms, Skyscanner studied its treasure trove of data to predict the top places in the world “to be and be seen in 2015.”)

And just a few days ago, The Huffington Post singled out Mykonos and Santorini when it ranked Greece #4 in its Top 15 International Destinations for 2015. “These magnificent islands are every bit as gorgeous, romantic, laid back, and fun as any place you can find on earth. There’s Mykonos for romance, Santorini for breathtaking beaches, Crete for natural wonders, and so much more to discover.” the Huffington Post explained.

A view of Mykonos Town and its harbour area. The Skyscanner travel search website has predicted that Mykonos will be one of the world’s top 5 travel destinations in 2015.

Random search for bargains at Mykonos hotels

To see if early booking bargains are indeed available right now, I randomly checked websites for dozens of hotels on Mykonos (sorry, Santorini fans — I just didn’t have the time to check hotels on that island, too). I discovered that many sites don’t explicitly indicate if any special promotions are available at all, while several still advertise early booking deals for last year. Quite a few sites have banners or navigation menus promising “special offers,” but the links took me to blank pages or basic online booking forms that didn’t indicate rate reductions. Clearly, many hotels haven’t updated their webpages in a long time! But with tourist arrivals expected to be strong on Mykonos again this year, I’m sure many hotel proprietors won’t need to offer discounts to fill their rooms. Nevertheless, I did find deals for certain room categories or specific travel dates indicated on the websites for several popular hotels and resorts.

What follows is summary of promotions I discovered during my random survey, listed by island location. If you’re interested in a different resort on Mykonos or any other island, for that matter, carefully check their websites for mention of early booking bonuses. If you don’t see any deals advertised, email or telephone the hotel to inquire if any benefits are available if you book now. It never hurts to ask, and many Greek hotels will be pleased to provide discounts if you reserve directly with them rather than through one of the major online third-party booking agencies.

Please click on the link below to continue reading on page 2 of this post.